Mei & Gaara Part II
Third Person
"You oughta get some rest, little brother," Temari advised as she helped Gaara into their home and placed him on the couch. "Both you and Kankuro. One gets poisoned and almost dies, and the other actually dies then comes back to life. Geez, how much trouble can you guys be?"
"My apologies for worrying you, Temari," Gaara replied, his eyes downcast. His head snapped up Temari placed a hand on his head, grinning widely. "It's my job to worry, silly. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't otherwise?"
Gaara's eyes widened for a moment, before they returned to normal size and a ghost of a smile flashed on his face. Temari ruffled his hair before standing back up and heading towards the front door. "I'm gonna fix the paperwork you have lying around your office. Then in a week you'll be back to being Kazekage. Until then, rest easy, take a walk, do something relaxing."
"And don't," Temari warned, glaring back at Gaara with an evil gleam in her eyes, "Let me catch you anywhere near your office. Got that?"
Gaara merely chuckled. "Fine."
Temari grunted in approval before leaving, closing the door behind her. With a low sigh, Gaara sat back and began to stare at the ceiling, contemplating on the events that happened about a week ago. To die and come back to life, opening your eyes to see countless Suna shinobi who once despised you weeping with joy and the boy who helped you find your path... It was exhilarating indeed. But he couldn't help but notice one thing.
Kaito Mei was not in the crowd.
After that fateful day when Mei declared she would be Gaara's friend no matter what, the two often hung out together. They would take turns planning out the day, experiencing what the other likes to do and whatnot, when Mei wasn't working at the hospital or when Gaara wasn't on a mission. Even then, Gaara would spend time following Mei around the hospital, having her explain what exactly she does and how she does it. She would mention how she would spend hours upon hours assisting children, elderly, and in between with any type of ailments, whether physical, mental, or emotional. It explained the dark circles under her eyes, Gaara eventually deduced.
The two wasted no time in protecting each other either. Since the two spent so much time together, the shinobi and citizens of Suna began to assume that there was something wrong with the blue haired nurse. That's when the whispers and rumors started. She must be a monster too, they would say behind their backs. After all, why would anyone want to willingly be around a selfish murderer? It became so bad that her boss had let her go, saying, "No employee of mine is gonna work here if he or she hangs around that beast!"
It put Mei in a depressed state. She locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Three days had passed when Gaara, who finally came back from a week-long mission, had received wind of what happened from his siblings. Enraged, he immediately went to the hospital and demanded that Mei could have her job back. Of course, no one wants to go against someone who would kill you in an instant. Afterward, the redhead visited Mei at her home and informed her that she got her job back. He had never seen her happier.
One day as they walked down the street, the ill whispers of the redhead Jinchūriki was causing the blue-nette to fill with ire. At last, she finally snapped, turning on her heel and yelling, "If you keep talking about Gaara like that, I'm gonna punch all of you in the throat! He's trying so hard to be nice to you ungrateful bastards, but you just keep pushing and pushing and pushing! Just you wait, one day Gaara is gonna show you all wrong! He's not a monster, and he's not a demon! In fact, one day he's gonna be the best damn thing that's ever happened to you, you... you awful, selfish, undeserving animals!"
After that day, Gaara could no longer acknowledge her as anything but a close friend. She had earned his trust at last, and when he told her this, she practically jumped for joy. Since then, the two have nearly never been apart.
As all of the memories of their time together replayed in his head, he found it odd that she wasn't in the crowd when he was revived. Last time they seen each other, Gaara finally fell in his battle against the Akatsuki member Deidara, their eyes meeting as he fell out of the sky. Mei's eyes were consumed with horror and welled with overflowing tears as she screamed his name. After that, there was nothing but darkness.
Did she think that he was dead? Is that why she wasn't there – because she couldn't bear to see his body? If that was the case, why hasn't Temari or Kankuro said anything? The poor blue-nette could be stricken with grief!
That dreadful thought overwhelming his mind, Gaara shot up and briskly walked out the door. He barely took two steps before he disappeared in a tornado of sand, reappearing in front of Mei's home. With three knocks on the door, he waited for only a minute before Mei's mother opened the door. She gasped rather dramatically before giving the redhead a grand hug. "Oh, Gaara, my precious boy! You had this old woman scared to death!"
Gaara's face flushed crimson and he stiffened under her motherly hold. Even though Mei's mother had long ago acknowledged him as her very own child, he at times tends to get flustered by her display of affection. Mrs. Kaito then tightly gripped Gaara's shoulders, snapping, "If you ever scare me like that again, I'm gonna sock you in the head with my rolling pin, you hear?!"
Gaara couldn't help but sweatdrop as he answered, "Yes, Kaito-san, I understand." Recovering from his embarrassment, he asked, "Is Mei home?"
"Mei?" Mrs. Kaito repeated, blinking in confusion, "No dear, Mei left about an hour ago. She seemed really excited, but she didn't tell me what for. Oh! She did say that she was headed towards your office. Maybe you should check there."
Confusion and curiosity evident in his eyes, he nodded and gave thanks before walking away. He wasted no time in appearing in his office. However, there was no one present. His confusion only grew. Mei's mother said she would be here. Not only that, but Temari also said she would be spending time in his office as well. Where were they?
Gaara decided to head to the hospital to consort with Kankuro. Surely he would know the whereabouts of their oldest sibling and the blue-nette.
He entered through the hospital doors and walked up to a receptionist sitting down behind the desk, looking through some papers. He cleared his throat and gotten the desired result of catching her attention. "Oh, Kazekage-sama! What can I do for you?"
"I am here to visit my older brother, Kankuro," Gaara replied simply. The receptionist nodded before swiftly looking through a large stack of papers. "Kankuro, Kankuro... Hm, how odd. Well it appears that Kankuro has already been released from the hospital a few hours ago. You won't find him here, Kazekage-sama. My sincere apologies."
Gaara's frown grew ever deeper, causing the poor receptionist to fidget in her seat. "W-Well maybe I've looked wrong. I can try again i-if you like..."
"No, it's fine," Gaara remarked, "Thank you for your assistance."
The lady smiled brightly, giving him a slight bow. "Anything for the Kazekage-sama."
As the redhead Kazekage walked out of the hospital, his mind racked for any logical reasons these occurrences were happening for. First Mei was not at home, nor at his office; then Temari was not present at his office either, despite her saying that she was going to be there for quite some time. Finally, Kankuro was admitted from the hospital without his knowledge, and so was nowhere to be found either. Just what exactly was going on?
Without concluding an answer, Gaara trudged home, questions that he was unable to answer swirling in his subconscious. He opened the door to his home, only to be met with streamers in his face and familiar voices yelling, "Surprise!!"
Sputtering, Gaara blinked rapidly as the scene before him slowly processed in his mind. The living room was decorated with different colored balloons and streamers, and there was a white banner with the words, "Welcome Home" spelled out in different colored letters. Both siblings were present, grinning cheekily from ear to ear, as well as Baki and his two former comrades from when he was in the shinobi troops. There was also Naruto, much to his surprise, and Sakura, Kakashi, Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Gai.
But what shocked him the most was a sixteen year old girl with hair as blue as the ocean flowing down to the small of her back like a magnificent waterfall, and violet eyes glittering with mischievous delight, standing in front of him holding out a two layered cake with the words 'Welcome home, Gaara-kun!' in rainbow letters. She gave him a closed eye grin, asking, "So? Whatcha think?"
"How..." Gaara stammered, eyes wide with wonder and shock. "I thought..."
"Sorry about avoiding you for the past few days," Mei lamented, "But I just figured hugging you to death and saying 'Thank Kami you're alive' wouldn't really show how grateful I was. So then I thought, how about a party! I talked to Temari-nee-san and Kankuro-nii-san about it and they agreed with me. So after ordering them to secrecy, I went about buying streamers and balloons and ordered a cake – oh, and I invited Naruto and Lee and their teams, because I know you have some type of special bond with them – but then I started freaking because I didn't know what type of cake did you like; I hope you like chocolate by the way. If not, then there's a vanilla cake on the counter that says the exact same thing as this here chocolate cake. Oh, but wait... What if you liked neither of them?! Oh shoot!"
Gaara couldn't help but stare as Mei began unnecessarily freaking out. She put the cake down on a nearby table and started to pace. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even think about that option! I couldn't really ask you what type of cake you liked anyway, because that would give away the surprise and you know I'm a horrible liar. At least there's gizzards and salted tongues; I know those are your favorites –"
She was cut off when she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her and pulling her into a solid chest. Blinking repeatedly, Mei looked up at Gaara, whose eyes were tightly closed. With a nervous frown, she mumbled, "What's wrong, Gaara-kun? Do... Do you not like the party?"
"Like it?" Gaara repeated, now holding Mei in arm's reach. He gave a soft ghost of a smile. "I much more than like it. No one has ever given me a surprise party before. Thank you, Mei."
At the rare compliment, the blue haired nurse grinned brightly. "Well then, let's get this party started!"
The rest of the night was spent with festivities. There were various games and competitions for everyone to play, such as 'Pin the shuriken on the enemy ninja' and arm wrestling. Countless presents were available to Gaara, at least one from each guest. Naruto had presented him with the novel 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja'; Sakura gave him a book of poisons and antidotes. Kakashi gave him 'Icha Icha Paradise', which was quickly taken away by an extremely flustered Mei.
"You are not giving Gaara-kun this book!" She snapped while she threw the inappropriate present at Kakashi, who had the misfortune of not being swift enough to dodge and ultimately got hit upside the head. "What are you trying to do, traumatize him?!"
Kakashi gave a sheepish laugh as he sat up, rubbing his aching head. "I just figured that he would like a few pointers once he gets to the 'birds and the bees' stage, is all. It's almost that time..."
Both Temari and Kankuro gave him heated glares, forcing him to shut his mouth. Mei's eye twitched rapidly, wondering why did she ever have the thought of inviting the perverted old man. Meanwhile, poor Gaara had become curious and mentally decided to ask Mei about the 'birds and the bees' later. What a conversation that will be!
But I digress.
Rock Lee decided to give Gaara a green spandex suit, while Might Gai bought leg weights for the redhead. While Gaara readily accepted the weights, he wasn't so opted to grab hold of the spandex suit. Thankfully Mei took it upon herself to relieve Gaara of the clothing. Tenten gave him a scroll filled with weaponry. "If your sand should ever fail you, you can give the enemy a nice, sharp surprise," She has said. Neji simply gave him some chakra reactive kunai.
Temari and Kankuro were unsure about what to give their baby brother. It took a while, but they both managed to find something that showed their love to Gaara. Temari went first; she smiled softly as she placed the colorful box in Gaara's hand. Curiosity subtly showing, Gaara pulled off the lid, only to let out a near inaudible gasp. His hand shook as he took the present out of the box.
In his hand was a small stuffed bear. It had what any other teddy bear would have – two button eyes and a small button nose, a stitched smile and fluffy light brown fur. At second glance you could see that it wasn't a band new bear. The smile looked a bit uneven, and some parts of the fur seemed a shade darker than others. But that didn't matter to Gaara.
It was the history that came with the bear.
"I know... you've had it rough in the beginning," Temari said, her eyes softening as Gaara gazed at the bear, his only friend in the past, with a nostalgic fondness. "And we as siblings didn't make it any better."
Kankuro spoke up, walking up to Gaara and placing another present in the redhead boy's hands. "But over the years we've noticed that you were trying to change for the better. So we tried to help in any way we could. That's what siblings do, you know?"
"I guess what we're trying to say is..." Gaara placed the bear down so he could focus on Kankuro's present. The item hidden under the colorful wrapping paper was small and rectangular. He ripped off the paper to reveal a black photo frame with the words 'Family Forever' in white cursive letters etched on the top. Within the frame was a photograph of the Sand Siblings, Baki, and Mei at the village festival. Temari and Kankuro were on both sides of Gaara, smiling as Mei was right behind Gaara, using her index fingers to force an amused Gaara to smile while grinning widely. Baki was in the background, his arms crossed while smiling fondly at the group.
Gaara stared at the picture before looking up at his siblings. The older siblings glanced at each other before flashing their baby brother a closed eye smile. "We love you!"
Gaara's eyes widened to an impossible size. Since he was born, there was no one he could recall that ever said those three words. They were just three words; a combination of the letters from the alphabet. But their meaning meant so much more.
Those three words meant that he will never be alone again.
He gazed down at the photo and bear once more, a small smile and a small blush gracing his face. "Arigato... I... I love you too..."
The entire room, with the exception of Baki and Neji, burst out in 'Awws', causing Gaara to blush even more. Baki let out a booming laugh before placing yet another present in the redhead's hands. Unwrapping the gift, it was a book about cultivating different species of cacti, to which Gaara sincerely appreciated, for it was one of his favorite hobbies besides training. It went very well with Mei's gift, which happened to be a baby artichoke cactus.
After cake-eating and more games, Team Seven and Team Gai left to their hotel to get some sleep. Baki went home, while Temari and Kankuro departed to their respective rooms. It was just Gaara and Mei now.
"Don't you plan on going home as well, Mei?" Gaara wanted to know, watching the blue-nette pick up paper plates and cups and put them in the trash. As he began to assist, Mei replied, "Actually, I told my parents that I was going to spend the night here. I hope you don't mind."
Gaara glanced at the girl, responding softly, "Of course not."
Within minutes they cleaned up the mess and went to Gaara's room. After putting away all of the presents, Mei sat on the edge of the bed while Gaara stood staring out of the window. Mei scoffed, "Geez, are you gonna stare out the window all night? Come here already."
With a low chuckle, Gaara sat down next to the nurse. When he noticed her grinning expression, he grew curious. "What is it?"
"Oh, nothing," Mei remarked casually, the grin still in place, "It's just that I have something for you."
Gaara blinked; yet another gift from Mei? He wasn't complaining, but he did find it suspicious. "Oh? Why didn't you give it to me while the party was commencing?"
Mei burst out laughing, catching the poor redhead off guard. "What, and die of embarrassment? Please!"
Gaara rolled her eyes at the girl's antics, but smiled nonetheless. Something that he was doing more often with her around. "Then pray tell, what is this gift?"
"Well, you gotta close your eyes first," Mei said, earning a look that would've have been a raised eyebrow if Gaara had them. She rolled her eyes, remarking, "Just do it, gosh. I swear you're like a stubborn mule."
Gaara scoffed at the analogy, but shut his eyes. One, two, three seconds passed. Growing impatient, the Kazekage was about to open his eyes when he felt something soft press against his lips. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes shot open. Mei's eyes were closed tightly, almost as if she feared to open them. Her face was red as a blooming rose, and the redhead could feel the heat radiating off her.
A small moment passed and Mei separated her lips from his, her eyes still woven shut. As she peeked through one eye, the healthy blush did not disappear. In fact, it spread as she saw Gaara's dumbfounded expression. She quickly looked away and subconsciously began to pull at her ear lobe, a habit that Gaara noticed when she was nervous or embarrassed.
"I..." She began, then stopped, chewing on her lower lip nervously. With a deep breath, she began again. "When I saw that man take you away, I've never felt more scared in my life. I thought... I thought I was going to lose you. And when doctors came with Kankuro-nii-san fighting for his life with an unknown poison, it made the pain and possibility of you never coming back all the more terrifying.
"And when Temari-nee-san told me you were back," She continued, tears beginning to well in her eyes, "I was so happy! For a moment, I thought I lost you forever. I thought we would never to be able to talk again, or for me to see you smile, or for us to bask in the moonlight and make constellations. I mean, can you imagine? One of the people that you care for the most suddenly taken from you?"
When Mei asked that question, Gaara immediately thought of her. He would not admit it out loud, but he was afraid as well. To never see Mei again – to never hear her unique laugh or her violet eyes ever again – the mere thought was unbearable.
"To even be away from you for a couple of hours – it creates an aching in my chest that I just couldn't explain. But when we were in close proximity, the ache would disappear, and everything would be alright. I didn't understand it at first, but then it dawned on me pretty quickly. Gaara-kun... I think... I think I l-lo–"
She was interrupted when Gaara softly pressed his lips against hers. She didn't hesitate to close her eyes and enjoy the feeling of their lips. There was no rush, no angst. After a few seconds they parted. When Mei gazed at the redhead curiously, he merely chuckled and commented, "You talk so much. I suppose that's one of the countless reasons why I never want you to leave my side."
Mei's eyes widened at the words. "Gaara-kun..."
Gaara said nothing; instead he crawled to the head of the bed and laid down. Mei followed suit. They stared at each other in comfortable silence, before Mei decided to scoot closer and snuggle against Gaara's chest. He responded by wrapping his arm around her small frame. Slowly blinking, he remarked, "For the first time in years, I'm finally able to fall asleep. With you in my arms, I think there's no better way I can."
"Oh shut up," Mei scoffed, but the redhead could hear the smile in her voice, "And go to sleep already."
Gaara chuckled but said nothing. Silence took over once more.
"Gaara-kun?"
"Hm."
"...aishiteru wa..."
Gaara smiled, closing his eyes and slowly drifting away to unconsciousness. "Aishite imasu, Mei..."
---
Wow, that took waay too long to do. I'm so sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you like it!
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